Rural India May Play Vital Role in EV Adoption

INDIA REPORT
Aditya Kondejkar

Electric vehicles (EVs) witnessed strong growth in the Indian market in 2022, with a three-fold increase in sales as compared to the year before. Official data shows that Indians have bought 2,780,000 EVs since January 2023 at an average of more than 90,000 EVs per month. Significantly, the demand for EVs is not limited to metro cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, but is increasing in Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets as well.

Source: Financial Express    Read The Article

PSR Analysis: While the growth of EVs has been primarily focused on urban areas of India, we are seeing a significantly improved adoption of EVs in rural parts of the country. The statistics from Vahan, the national vehicle registry, reveal that sales of electric cars and 3ws from the contribution of the top 10 districts in India has dropped significantly from 55%-60% in fiscal 2021 to 25%-30% in fiscal 2022. In the 2Ws segment, the percentage has dropped from 40%-45% to 15%-20%. The noticeable gaps here are being filled up by smaller towns and rural India.  

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PowerTALK May 2018

Autonomous Vehicles Long Way Off

Readers of PowerTALK aren’t looking for autonomous vehicles to hit the roads soon, if our survey published last month is any indication.

In the April issue of PowerTALK, we asked readers, “When do you think a fully autonomous vehicle will be available in the market place?” Only 22.22% of respondents said it would happen within five years. More, 33.33%, said it would happen in the period of six to 10 years.

Other Top Stories in this issue of PowerTALK include

  • Don’t look for autonomous vehicles soon
  • NA power boat demand grows
  • Brazil Agrishow 2018 Report
  • JCB reduces backhoe production
  • Royal Enfield eyes global markets
  • Nissan to drop diesels in Europe
  • Russian car sales climb 18%

GAZ Group May Start Mass Production of Hydrogen Engines in 2.5 Years

This report comes from General Director of GAZ Power Aggregate division Konstantin Rukhani. “After 18 months we shall complete the tests, after about 2.5 years, we’ll come to mass conveyor production,” he told Ruhani. He added that the design of the new hydrogen engine will be similar to its gas reciprocating engine.

“We consider that at the moment, if we come to the strategy of use gas piston engine working on hydrogen, we can get vehicle with a price of 30-34% higher than current ones. The engine will be less demanding for the purity of hydrogen fuel,” he added.

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Penetration Rate of Intelligent EVs in China in 2030 May Exceed 90%

CHINA REPORT
Jack Hao
Jack Hao

“China has the largest automobile production in the world, the most complete industrial foundation, supply chain foundation, talent foundation and market foundation,” said Li Bin, chairman of Weilai automobile.

These factors provide China with a significant advantage in developing intelligent EVs, he said “In fact, if we can have the advantages of these four aspects at the same time, China is the only one in the world,” he added.

The penetration rate of new energy has exceeded 10% in 2021. From the trend, this target will exceed 20% in 2025. China’s penetration rate of intelligent electric vehicles in 2030 will exceed 90% in new car sales. In recent years, with the accelerated popularization of intelligent electric vehicles, the automotive industry will once again become the commanding height of scientific and technological innovation.

Source:  Beijing News     Read The Article

PSR Analysis: Today, new bus procurement is fully electrified. Buses have fixed routes, and the operation range is relatively stable. At the end of 2020, all buses in key regions and major cities have been replaced with new energy. The trend of bus electrification will continue to be promoted nationwide and gradually electric buses will replace diesel vehicles.

Considering that the running distance and working environment are relatively controllable, the market promotion of oil and electricity price difference, and the gradual completion of bus electrification, taxis will also accelerate electrification.

The second step is to accelerate the electrification of trucks such as urban logistics, environmental sanitation and muck trucks. The State Council proposes to promote green and low-carbon means of transportation, port and airport services, urban logistics distribution and postal express to give priority to the use of new energy or clean energy and strengthen the charging and switching facilities of new energy vehicles.

The penetration rate of private car electrification will also continue to increase. According to the current situation, electric vehicles can replace unified fuel vehicles in terms of price and mileage around 2025. At the same time, with the promotion of electrification in the field of public transport and trucks, driving the continuous improvement of infrastructure, the electrification of private cars will proceed more smoothly.  PSR

Jack Hao is Senior Research Manager – China, for Power Systems Research

Product Definitions Guide

Product Descriptions by Segment and Application Power Systems Research tracks some 250 products in 13 major industrial segments. This Guide defines each product that PSR lists in its proprietary databases. Segment: Agriculture Application: 2-Wheel Tractors 2-Wheel Tractors Application: Ag Tractors 2-Wheel Drive Tractors 4WD Articulated Ag Tractors MFWD Tractors (Mechanical Front Wheel Drive) Tracked Ag

Korean EVs Hyundai and Kia Doing Well in UK

FAR EAST: SOUTH KOREA REPORT

Akihiro Komuro
Akihiro Komuro

The European EV market is expanding, and in the UK, Korean-made EVs are gaining popularity as vehicles that are more affordable than Tesla’s and that offer superior performance.

Last year in the UK, the Tesla Model 3 ranked second in sales of all passenger cars by model, marking the “first year of EVs” in earnest. However, the popular Tesla cars are not inexpensive, costing about three times as much as similarly sized gasoline-powered cars. On the other hand, Hyundai and Kia cars are priced at 60-70% of Tesla’s Model Y and have been a hit with environmentally conscious 30–40-year-olds who had been putting off purchasing EVs because they wanted to replace their cars with EVs but thought Tesla were too expensive.

A major reason for the high support for Korean-made EVs is their price competitiveness. In terms of corporate car leasing prices, Tesla’s Model Y costs 40 pounds per day (for a three-year lease), while Kia’s low-priced e-NIRO EV costs less than 20 pounds per day, about half the price. While the price may be reasonable due to the large difference in vehicle quality, the figures are enough to shatter the preconceived notion that EVs are expensive.

UK EV Market Share by Brand
(Feb-April 2022)

  • Tesla, 25.2%
  • Hyundai & Kia, 14.6%
  • VW Group, 13.6%
  • Stellantis, 12.9%
  • BMW Group, 8.9%
  • Mercedes, 6.7%
  • Renault-Nissan, 4.4%
  • Others, 13.4%

The reason why Europeans have no resistance to “Korean-made EVs” has to do with historical backgrounds other than vehicle prices and tax benefits. Korean-made cars are highly regarded in Europe, and Korean cars have an extremely high share of the compact car segment in Europe. This is due to the fact that Korean automakers have aggressively expanded their factories into former Eastern European countries, where wages are low but skill levels are high; Hyundai and Kia established production bases in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, respectively, soon after both countries joined the European Union.

Source: Economist

PSR Analysis: As mentioned above, many potential buyers believe EVs are more expensive than conventional engine models. Hyundai and Kia are successfully implementing mass-market EV strategies in Europe, where EVs are most prevalent, in order to overcome the sales slump caused by this image. IF the Korean carmakers can overcome this mis-perception of pricing, it will make a big difference in acceptance in this important EV market.     PSR

Akihiro Komuro is Research Analyst, Far East and Southeast Asia for Power Systems Research

On-Highway Batteries Serve as Emergency Backup Power

Audi and the utility EnBW are pioneering an energy storage facility built on retired electric vehicle (EV) batteries. This partnership is being billed as the solution to a major problem in each industry.

Tyler Wiegert
Tyler Wiegert

For automobile manufacturers, the question of how to recycle retired batteries has been pressing for some time. Utilities have been struggling with the perverse problem that excess generation from renewable sources has been slowing adoption, as surges from those sources can disrupt the stability of power grids.

EV batteries have a functional life of 3-10 years after they are retired from vehicle use, making them a ready tool for use by utilities.

Portland General Electric Company (PGE) also is seeking to create a more resilient grid for the utilization of renewable energy sources. They are launching a pilot program to incentivize the installation of home battery systems to act as a virtual power plant.

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Electric Boats Gain Industry Share

There seems little doubt that electric powered boats will grow as the fast-improving technology trickles down from the automotive industry, which is driving battery technology, to the marine engine industry.

Michael Aistrup
Michael Aistrup

Today the electric boat has become a $4.5 billion global marine industry segment, and a report by IDTechEx shows that the market for hybrid and pure electric boats will rise significantly to over $20 billion worldwide by 2027.

Brushless permanent magnet electric motors and advances in lithium ion battery technology have allowed leaps to be made in the rush to marine electric. Lithium-ion batteries are half as heavy as lead-acid batteries and last three times as long, and advances in their effectiveness and stability have been significant.

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100% Green Hydrogen Powered Ferry Planned by 2027

Natasa Mulahalilovic
Natasa Mulahalilovic

The European Union’s private and public sectors are working hard on developing projects that could accelerate the transition from the fossil fuel powered to the zero-emission shipping.

One of the leading joint efforts is the project created by Danish ferry operator DFDS, Swiss-Sweden giant ABB, Danish fuel cell manufacturer Ballard Power Systems Europe, the global leader in zero-emission e-mobility Hexagon Purus, wind power generator Orsted, Lloyds Register and Danish Ship Finance. 

The project is designed to build a 100% green hydrogen powered ferry by 2027.

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